AARP Hearing Center
The following documents related to consumer affairs and the financial security of people 50-plus are presented in reverse chronological order.
October
T: On October 29, 2013 David Certner, Legislative Counsel and Policy Director for AARP Government Affairs provided testimony to the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Education & The Workforce Committee, U.S. House Of Representatives on Strengthening the Multiemployer Pension System: How Will Proposed Reforms Affect Employers, Workers, and Retirees? (PDF)
L: On October 7, 2013 AARP wrote to the entire U.S. Congress urging them to take steps to avoid default on our national debt and avoid risking benefits for current Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries or the health of our fragile economy. Older Americans care very deeply about our country, and many are grandparents who feel a sense of stewardship and responsibility to make sure that their grandchildren enjoy the same opportunities and benefits our great nation has provided to them. At the same time, millions of older Americans rely every day on their Social Security and Medicare. (PDF)
September
C: On September 17, 2013, AARP provided comments to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing proposed rule. In the comments, AARP supports HUD’s efforts to clarify grantee obligations to “affirmatively further fair housing” and to establish procedures designed to assist grantees to evaluate and implement their obligations. AARP urged HUD to strengthen, finalize, and fully enforce the proposed rule to ensure that the promise of the Fair Housing Act becomes a reality for people in all communities. (PDF)
August
T: On August 29, AARP, on behalf of more than 37 million of its members and all Americans age 50 and older, provided testimony on so-called pension derisking. For decades, AARP has worked to preserve and strengthen defined benefit pensions as well as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s (ERISA) protections for pension participants and beneficiaries. Defined benefit pension plans have proven themselves to be reliable, efficient, and vital mechanisms for ensuring retirement income security for American workers and their families. Such plans, however, increasingly have been supplanted by defined contribution arrangements such as 401(k)-type plans, which shift all of the asset-building, investment, and longevity risk to employees. Twenty-five years of experimentation with shifting the risk for retirement security from employers to individual workers is contributing to a generation of retirees who are at high risk of accumulating too few assets, and too many who will simply outlive the assets. (PDF)
